I grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon eating loads of Himalayan blackberries (Rubus armeniacus) in the summer. Some plants produced berries that are so-so, but a good one is superlative. These became my benchmark for all commercial blackberry varieties. If you’re from these parts you probably know what I’m talking about.
A couple years ago I had the existential crisis that I’m sure is not unique to PNW natives living in a small suburban lot: should I actually put a blackberry plant in my yard on purpose? But without access to any fallow lots in my area, I trialed some of the more tame (thornless and non-spreading) Columbia Star and Columbia Giant. The verdict is finally in: they’re…okay. (At least the Columbia Star is – the giant is too tart).
But they’re not mind-blowingly delicious. Does anyone have any recommendations for something that can come close to the juicy, super-sweet, intense berry flavor of a good Himalayan blackberry grown in the PNW? Ideally thornless, and bonus points for non-spreading. I’m currently in the Willamette Valley, so I have pretty ideal growing conditions for just about any blackberry.
Management also has a huge impact on flavor, making sure they have a slight water deficit while ripening fruit and only having a few canes per root crown will increase flavor significantly
Also flavor will typically improve after the first year (at least) of production
Thank you, @Phlogopite for the information. My plants are young and they’ve struggled for the last couple years getting established with some of the extreme weather events we’ve had, so it’s certainly possible that they’ll improve with time. I’ll definitely give them another year or two to evaluate.
The ‘Himalayan’ blackberry in the Willamette Valley is highly variable in size and flavor from place to place. So it would be hard to get a general consensus to compare with cultivated varieties. There are certainly some very flavorful patches to be found. Kind of like secret fishing holes.
Before I had my own property, I used the Himalayan a lot. Typical bramble patches have little border ‘bays’ where people trample-edge in to get at the best fruit. Main problem is that most people pick anything that has turned black; it can be hard to find fully ripe berries that are easily reached.
I’ve only grown Hall’s Beauty for a couple years.I tested the brix level on the ones mentioned and it was 17,while the others were about 12-13.
Maybe this season,I’ll taste and test Himalayan versus mine.
@LarryGene : yes, you’re definitely correct regarding the variability of the Himalayan BBs; I think my own subjective definition of an ideal clone would be especially sweet, juicy, and intensely flavored (I guess just more of everything).
My dissatisfaction with my home-grown BBs is that they are only moderately sweet, firm and not particularly juicy (presumably a desired characteristic for mechanical harvesting), and weakly flavored. Don’t get me wrong - they aren’t grocery-store-blackberries level bad (i.e., practically inedible) - they’re just disappointing knowing that the fruit of a weedy invasive blanketing half the valley tastes incomparably better. I hope that - as @Phlogopite pointed out - at least some of these shortcomings may be related to plant age.
Thanks for the brix datapoint, @Bradybb – I like to think that I would reach for a fruit with better flavor even if it had a little less sugar… but apparently my primitive brain would disagree.
I think you should alter your title. Himalayan blackberries are not native to the PNW, there’s a reason why they’re called Himalayan. To be more specific the region they originated from is hell. There is no nastier invasive than Himalayan blackberries in my book. I’ve been battling them for over 50 years on my property and they’ll likely still be here when I’m long dead. There’s virtually no getting rid of them once they’ve got a solid toe hold. They otta pay a bounty for every cane you dig up.
I have no idea what a Himalayan blackberry taste like… but the Marion berry is supposed to be the flavor king of the west coast.
Have you tried them ?
At our local Cracker Barrell stores they used to serve blackberry jam made from marion berry. It was delicious.
I would try one here… but many west coast berries are not tuf enough for southern middle TN weather and our red neck cane borer love those whimpy long trailing type canes.
@tbg9b : sorry for the confusion, by “PNW natives,” I meant to attract the attention of folks that grew up in the PNW. I definitely feel your bramble-induced pain, though. My suburban lot is small enough that they’re easy enough to keep in control, though I have spent many bleeding hours helping out at the family farm digging out Himalayan BBs.
@TNHunter : yes, Marion berry is indeed very good, and you’re right – it has been the king of blackberries out here for a good long while (though I think some of the newer varieties are taking over). I was turned off by the idea of growing them due to the thorns, though I may need to go suck it up and deal with the occasional blood draw if it means a solid reward. As an aside, my canes have been hit hard in the last couple years by a cousin of your red-necked cane borers: the rose stem girdler beetles (same genus: Agrilus). I chalked the infestation up to stressed plants due to the unfavorable weather, though if this trend continues, I too may need to investigate some sturdier varieties.
@krismoriah : Thank you for the recommendation. And also for the idea of checking them out at the U-picks – I often lament that I have no way of sampling the many lesser-known fruits I’m thinking of growing, but blackberries in the PNW are nothing if not abundant!
The growing conditions, and adaptation/selection for growing conditions may be a bigger effect than you credit.
If you cloned some of the best tasting wild ones and grew them where you have your Columbia Star, I wonder if you’d be as impressed. Propagating blackberries is dead simple BTW.
That’s a good point. I was just out in the yard today and noticed a lot of sun-scalded berries on my Columbia Star and Giant. I get the impression they don’t like as much heat as they’re getting (they’re south-facing in front of a fence that reflects heat back on them, plus they’re on a sandy soil berm). I water them multiple times per day in this heat (they’re on a drip system), but I wonder if a different variety might be better suited to this much heat and sunshine.
I’m tempted to propagate my favorite Himalayan, but I think intentionally planting those in the yard might lose too many points with my wife (and reasonably so).
I’m not much help on the growing front since I’m only on my first season but I did grow up picking the Himalayan Blackberries on my Grandfather’s property and they were glorious. Now living in Seattle I have had amazing Loganberries and Marion berries from the farmer’s market that rival that childhood memory so I know it can be done.
So far the loganberries that came with my house have been okay but not great - this year I am trying to follow the advice here and we will see I also have a young Columbia Star and Triple Crown and both
actually gave me a tasty berries last year - not as amazing as the best I’ve had but still way better than store bought and that is good for me.
Edit: The loganberries that came with the house are thorny. I also have a thornless one I got this year to try. I have also added thornless boysenberry and Columbia Giant as well as the usual thorny Marion berry.
That’s heartening to hear that you’re finding multiple blackberry cultivars that are in the same ballpark as Himalayans! I appreciate the datapoint and the direct comparison to the Himalayans.
And that’s quite a collection of blackberries you have there – that sounds amazing
Agree. Invasives are not native, that’s the point.
The tasty monster we call the Himalayan Blackberry evolved in Armenia, where it is well behaved. In 1835 it was introduced to Europe for its berries. (Source) It escaped cultivation and turned invasive there.
In 1885 Luther Burbank, the California plant breeder, received seeds of this blackberry from India – so he called it Himalayan. Burbank sold the seeds in his popular catalogs, and the plant took off in the West, becoming EXTREMELY invasive.
Definitely not a native. Please change the title.
I also have a young Columbia Star and Triple Crown and both